Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Have any of you ever listened to Terry Gross on Fresh Air? I have been listening to her for the last decade religiously. She is part of my daily ritual. Now that I have my Ipad, I listen to her whenever I want. I am addicted. My favorite interviews to date have been Martin Short, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and the latest Jimmy Fallon.

If Terry interviewed me it would go something like this...

Terry:

With us today is my guest Lara Serbin founder of Sam Harvey a fashion line of hand sewn design products and co-founder of Serbin Studio an architectural firm. Lara Serbin, welcome to the show.

Lara:

Thank you Terry. I cannot believe I am sitting here with you. I love the sound of your voice. You have been my companion through countless design projects for the last decade. Thank you for being so committed to your craft. I have noticed that you always pin point someone's deepest secrets when you interview them. They cannot hide from you. You go for the jugular.

Terry:

"Crisp chuckle." It has taken years to perfect it. I don't notice it anymore. It just happens naturally that my guests want to reveal themselves to me.

Lara:

They feel comfortable with you. It shows.

Terry:

Tell us about Sam Harvey. What is it exactly?

Lara:

It started out as Hanukah presents for my family a couple years back. I had lost my way with Serbin Studio and it seemed that it was going to stop all together. I literally brought my sewing machine into the archtectural studio one day and just started sewing to get my mind off of the dead silence of the phones not ringing.

Terry:

Why the name Sam Harvey?

Lara:

Sam Harvey is an androgynous name. Jeffrey and I don't have to limit ourselves in terms of design. Sam Harris Parke was my Baptist great grandfather who was a sheriff in a county in North Carolina. Harvey Nep was my Jewish grandfather from Los Angeles who was a food buyer for a discount chain store and then a sales manager for the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the 1960's Harvey opened a full scale dinner house called King Neptune on Mission Bay.

Terry:

You must have been very brave to start something so new in such a depressed time.

Lara:

Jeffrey and I needed to get our minds off of architecture for a while. We knew we were missing something with Serbin Studio. A missing ingredient or something.

Terry:

Maybe a corned beef sandwhich?

Lara:

Hah! Nice put away shot! It felt good to make up something to keep us busy at that time. We were working on designing patterns for these quilted bags kind of like Vera Bradley bags but cooler and better engineered. Except when it came time to cut each piece and assemble we started to understand how labor intensive it was to produce a bag that won't rip apart when you start loading it and carrying it.

Terry:

I read through some of your blog posts and it seems that you enjoyed making them and picking out fabrics. You even designed your own metal hardware I noticed.

Lara:

I can't say there was a time when anything we produced for Sam Harvey was profitable. The whole chapter was one of exploration. I felt like I had started as a junior in a new high school and had to make friends.

Terry:

You marketed to local spas in Arizona. You and Jeff even went to ISPA in Texas at one point.

Lara

I felt like we needed to commit to something in order to make Sam Harvey work. I realized that Sam Harvey bags were not fetching the price that they deserved. There was one spa in Paradise Valley in particular that I had a very unfortunate meeting. The spa director, a young woman didn't even make eye contact with me when I spoke to her. Some spa directors forgot that I had even scheduled meetings with them.

Terry:

From the looks of your postings it doesn't look like you are sewing bags anymore. Seems like you have been doing more watercolors and designing for Serbin Studio.

Lara:

Once I know we are going down a dead end, I can quickly change course. I wasn't about to start a production overseas to bring the cost of the bags down. I definitely didn't want to start a life of showing my bags at craft shows for a living. After being an architect for so long, I have to say that I missed my professional status of saying that I was an architect. I missed dressing like an architect. I missed my white starched dress shirts, khaki pants and black mary janes. I was used to being treated with respect and being paid for what I am worth.

Terry:

From the looks of things, Serbin Studio is headed towards great things.

Lara:

Thanks Terry. Just talking with your has been amazing. I have a new appreciation for being an architect. I want Serbin Studio to succeed above all else. I learned valuable lessons from trying to make it in the retail business. Who knows, maybe Sam Harvey can tie into Serbin Studio someday. Fashion and architecture. For now bag production has stopped.

Terry:

Looks like you still love to sew.

Lara:

That will never stop. I have to have a personal sewing project I can loose myself in. As long I spend about an hour a day sewing, I am a happy architect!

Terry:

It's been great having you on the show. I look forward to hearing more about your designs whether in the fashion or architecture world.

Lara:

Thanks for interviewing such amazing people in the past Terry. You will continue to inspire and amaze me.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Tonight I took Eva and Lily my girls to PF Changs for dinner. This is a typical Monday evening for us after dance class. As we are going through the circular glass door thing that spins around 360 *which I have no clue why you would need this in Arizona with all the hurricane activity* which I dread because Lily always makes it spin like 3-4 times. Eva and I will be in the lobby and Lily will keep going round and round slowly while her greasy fingers are mashed up against the freshly windexed curved glass. Well this time the round door just haulted stop with lily wedged somewhere in the middle. She was ready for Willie Wonka to suck her up to the blue berry gobstopper machine or what in the hell I don't know. I felt myself loosing my cool. I looked behind me in the reception and my eye stopped on this attractive young couple. Mind you I am pretty dead sure that the woman was about 3 months pregnant. I said to them, "This is what you have to look forward to!" They looked at each other and giggled. Then I laughed in my big hardy har har way *which might I add it quite contagious*.

Lily and Eva were well behaved but then they kind of lost it while I was waiting to pay. Lily was laying down in the booth and sticking her feet up the sides of the upholstery. Then I swear Eva did this world federation body slam on Lil and then the couple next to our booth stopped eating and stared at us. I am proud to say that they have some Nep in them after all. You could never take Erik and I out to dinner or anywhere for that matter when we were that age. We were a mess.

Lil and Eva

For those that care *and I know you secretly do* my quilting on my skirt and jacket are slowly but steadily getting finished. Just the sleeve of the jacket took the entire weekend. Just quilting that is.

Special thank you to Christine Jonson for sending some free knit fabrics my way. Christine is on the cover of last months Threads magazine. She designs her own patterns for garments. She mainly focuses on knit fabrics which she sells on her online boutique. She is truly a creative genius. Her patterns are very straight forward. It took many trial and error but I have my favorite patterns from her website like for simple tops, skirts which I just repeat over and over with different knits.

The most amazing part of sewing a Jonson pattern is that the end result is something you can keep in your closet forever. The most well sewn quality garment you will every have. I love mixing and matching my pieces. I like her patterns too because I can sew a top in about 3 hours. SHAM WOW. I know.

Latest trip to Garlands in Oak Creek Canyon, AZ. This was not our cabin but I like this one.

I am an architect, fashion designer and lover of strong tea. I love to share what is in my head. I enjoy working with my hands and telling a story about my process.

I am founder of an architectural firm called Serbin Studio, started in 1998. From this experience and my love for fashion, in Jan. 2009, I started SAM HARVEY, LLC, a fashion based company that designs and manufactures timeless, lightweight and signature bags.

SAM HARVEY encompasses the entire brand of products I design for both men and women.